Race Review: Penang Bridge Int. Marathon
EVENT. NAME: Penang Bridge Int. Marathon 2016
VENUE: George Town, Penang
DATE: 27 Nov 2016 Time: 01:30
Headline Event Owners: Penang State Tourism Dev. & Culture.
Event Organising Company: Undisclosed
Race Director: Undisclosed
Timing company: Undisclosed
Registration company: Direct
THE EVENT
2016 saw the Penang Bridge International Marathon open in some disarray, just weeks after opening the race registration they suddenly announced that they were changing the date. Bad planning yes, but, worse still their refusal to disclose why the sudden change.
from Facebook
Penang Bridge International Marathon
22 February ·
Dear runners, Attention to those who need our assist in changing your flight itinerary due to the changed of APBIM date to 27 November 2016, please email to info@penangmarathon.gov.my latest by 29 February 2016.
Please be noted that late comers will not be entertained as we do have deadline with airlines as well. As for the first batch, we have already sent the latest itinerary to you, please check your mailbox. Thank you.
Like · Reply · 16 January at 13:06
James Willis Running on Old Legs says: Why always - UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES - come clean what is the reason, why are you disrupting peoples plans? If it circumstances out of your control, then tell us what and why. You make these changes but you do not compensate those who have booked flights or, like me, hotels on the strength of your information. You are in danger of becoming the laughing stock of the big marathons.
Like · Reply · 8 · 16 January at 09:48 · Edited
Penang Bridge International Marathon Dear James Willis we are truly sorry and we understand your frustration. Please email us at info@penangmarathon.gov.my with your details if you wish to change the dates of your flight.
Like · Reply · 16 January at 13:14
James Willis Penang Bridge International Marathon I have not booked a flight just hotel and the hotel have been good enough to change my dates at no cost. BUT what about my main question "Why always - UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES - come clean what is the reason"
Like · Reply · 18 January at 13:57
UNANSWERED
However, that said, they did make every effort to assist with flight changes, hotel bookings etc. and I understand that they gave full refunds to anyone who wished to cancel their registration. I did also hear, but have not been able to have it confirmed, that they reimbursed some for flights booked.
The actual race was much as usual, let’s try and forget 2014, a generally well organised affair with a few glaring problems, some of which happen year after year.
Running a full marathon at one-thirty in the morning, with an average temperature of thirty-point-five degrees and the humidity running at ninety-four percent is tough, very tough. It would seem that the organisers thought ‘not tough enough’, I can almost hear the organising committee's discussion, it could have gone something like:
Gentlemen, at the half-marathon turnaround point the marathon runners will have run around thirty-five kilometres and for those that have not crashed and burnt at ‘the wall’ we need to ensure that they do not have the opportunity to relax and coast home for the remainder of the distance. Therefore, I propose that we drop several thousand twenty-one kilometre runners and walkers onto the marathon course, that should add to the anguish of the long distance runner. Mr. Chairman, I feel this wonderful gesture has a slim chance of failing to increase the hardship of the marathoners. I do understand that it has never happened before, but, there is always a first time. What happens if the slower runners and walkers stay to the right-hand side of the course and allow the marathon runners a clear path? Can I propose that immediately after the twenty-one kilometre turnaround we place a water station on the left-hand side of the course to ensure that the thousands of slower runners must cross in front of the marathon runners. I am sure they, that is to say, the exhausted marathon runners, will have a ball trying to negotiate their way through that stampede.
Motion carried, let there be chaos and carnage.
Gentlemen, let us move on to the ten kilometre race. I have had this great idea about running the finish into the back of the other three distances and if we let the runners that have missed their cut-off times continue running I believe we could get a Guinness Book of Records entry for the biggest Big City Marathon finish-line cock-up of all time.
EVENT SCORE CARD SUMMARY
PRE RACE.
Entry and information:
Event information and updates were made often and were extensive. 9/10. Contact details: Facebook, Web-site, Phone and E-mail were all made available but they were selective in what questions were answered. 7/10.
Value of entry price at RM80 early-bird [staged RM90 & RM100] 19/20.
Race registration and kit collection: Collection points were local and over a good space of time. A postal service was available. I understand that the kit collection was easy and well managed. 20/20. 55/60
Race site Facilities:
Space at the venue was ample. 10/10. Toilets, number and condition were good. 10/10.
Start area staffing and information was a little hit and miss, there was no signage. 6/10.
Parking and transport: Is there ever enough parking? Hotel drop off buses and taxis could not get any closer than 1.5k from the start. Not so bad at the start but after putting yourself through 42k it was a bit further than I would have wanted to walk. 6/10. 32/40
Care of Competitors:
Warm up, they did try a human wave? Starting time spot-on, timing good and as is usual no control of the starting chute. 5/10. Medical facilities at start/finish and on course supplied by medical officers of Penang Hospital, Red Crescent and St John Ambulance were situated everywhere. 20/20. 25/30
THE RACE.
Organisation:
Course management: Traffic control, space, and enjoyment factor were all good with the acceptation of that mentioned earlier. Signage was scarce for the majority of the distance, some was quite well hidden and the final home stretch there was nothing to direct runners into their correct lanes. The disaster at the half-marathon turnaround should never have happened and could have been prevented with signage, a barrier, the correct positioning of the water station and some marshals to prevent crossing. 29/40.
Marshaling quantity was obviously insufficient as marshals were taken from the finish area to assist with the 10k. The quality of those I came into contact with was just great. 14/20. Feed stations number, staffing and stocking all very good. 20/20. 63/80
POST RACE.
The finish line congestion at my time of finishing prevented me from obtaining any food or hydration due to the length of the queues. Luckily for me I have my Delia, so I had snacks and hydration brought to the finish. The medal/shirt/goodies collection was handed to you as you entered the finishing arena. The organisers should consider putting a recovery drink and some snacks in the bags to cut down the food queues. I cannot comment on the choice of food and hydration. 6/10.
Resting and cool down areas filled very quickly 7/10.
Top placings posting board was only on-line and there were no announcements. I couldn’t wait for the prize ceremony as I had to make my way to my bus pick up point. 6/10. 19/30
AFTER EVENT
Results were timely but awful. Top ten places were listed but apart from that all you get is your own time. Being a competitive animal I like to know where I came in my age group, gender, overall and how I compared to friends, acquaintances and rivals. 7/20.
Post event communication is just about nil. Top ten placings, videos of the starts and notification that the results [that is your time] is available. 6/10. 13/30 Total 207/270
My overall score for this event is 76.7%
COMMENT. A little more care and consideration would make this event a top-class attraction. Repeating problems and the lack of improvement year on year will lessen the events appeal to seasoned runners.
Would I return to this event: I doubt I will return but only because I am moving more and more to trail running rather than road running.
Happy Running
When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
My personal race.
5:02:07 [42.61 kms]
203rd. of 982 Veteran [40 plus].
My ‘race’ was run with 436 Facebook friends and around 6.000 running buddies from all around the world. It is just unfortunate that the organisers do not see fit to let us, the runners, know such details. Their interest, it would seem, is just to get as many people to Penang as they can, at that point they see their work as finished.
However, I had a near perfect run, well ninety-nine-point-three percent perfect.
This was my first major run that I did not race. Coming out of a recurring Achilles injury I ran under strict doctor’s orders. This had to be a Long Slow Distance run, not a race. I was given the go ahead to run with the condition that I ran it at a five-hour pace and no faster.
I accepted the challenge, and it was a challenge, I have never run such a long distance at that slow a pace.
I often run small events and shorter races as part of my training. These are usually run to a target time, always a shorter distance and usually faster than my desired marathon race pace. But this was different, a full marathon LSD.
I had a two-part plan to take away any chance of boredom.
Part one was to engage with as many people around me as I could, I spent a lot of time chatting, high-fiving and generally fooling about – it was fun.
Part two was to split the distance up into four sections, then start even slower than five-hour pace and slowly increase to enable me to catch the five-hour pacers at each ten k point then slow to drop back a few hundred metres and then repeat the catch-up. All went well for the first three sections and I went through ten, twenty and thirty k at the back of the pacer pack. Then I hit the hill on the bridge return, it’s not a big hill at all, but, my Achilles didn’t agree, to it, it was a bloody mountain and I was reduced to walking much of it. That put me just too far back to retrieve the situation and I finished just over two-minutes off my target.
The last five k was run with a young man, who I unfortunately lost in the crowd at the finish, as I came alongside him I could see in his face that he didn’t want to be beaten by an old fart like me and he just didn’t let me go past him. We ran side by side with grins like Cheshire cats, stride for stride. I would have loved to have had the chance to say thanks for making my day but he just vanished into the crowd.
